


After Hours

by notoneforreality



Series: QB-B3 007 Fest 2020 [24]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 007 Fest, 007 Fest 2020, Domestic Fluff, Family Dinners, Home, I would like to propose the ship name, Multi, Polyamory, TMsquared, Team Q Branch, bitching session, polyamory day, that goes a little screwy at the end, the double-ohs cause problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:02:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25383505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notoneforreality/pseuds/notoneforreality
Summary: Bill has had enough of the Double-ohs and just wants to relax.Luckily, he's got people waiting for him at home.
Relationships: Bill Tanner/Eve Moneypenny/M | Gareth Mallory
Series: QB-B3 007 Fest 2020 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1795726
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	After Hours

**Author's Note:**

> Written for--  
> 24th July: Polyamory Day

Bill does not flop down on the couch and huff a gale before loudly complaining about his staff, because that would be unprofessional. As much at that’s what he wants to do, he satisfies himself with marching across the living room, pausing to brush a kiss against Eve’s forehead, and sitting down on the sofa with slightly more force than necessary.

Gareth looks up from where he’s working at the dining room table and raises an eyebrow.

“Aren’t the Double-oh’s supposed to be your problem?” Bill glares in his direction. It doesn’t bother Gareth at all, because he’s been with Bill for four years and was friends with him six years before that.

“I believe the Head of Staff deals with the staff at MI6,” Gareth says.

“It’s right there in the job title,” Eve says, because Eve and Gareth ganging up on Bill has long been a feature of their relationship

“I hate you both,” Bill says, and they both ignore him, which is fair.

He fires off one last email from his work phone, and then locks it and resists the urge to throw it across the room, instead looking up to see what Eve’s watching on the TV. It’s Richard Osman’s House of Games, which is still the oddest game show Bill has ever seen because it sounds like there are approximately five people clapping at the end of each round and the atmosphere is weirdly muted. Still, he likes Rhyme Time, Broken Karaoke, and Answer Smash, and he’s willing to sit through the rest of it for an attempt to beat Eve at the rounds they play from the couch.

Eve wins, because she always does, even if Bill did surprise her by getting Duran Duranchovies in half a second flat. QI is on next, but it’s an old episode form 2006 and Eve flicks the channels to see what else is on, while Bill levers himself up from the couch and goes to see what’s in the kitchen. The answer is ‘not much’, but there’s some frozen bolognese mix in the freezer and animal pasta shapes in the cupboard so that’s dinner sorted.

Halfway through defrosting the bolognese on the pan, Bill feels a warm body press up against his back, along with the scent of aftershave. Today’s meal takes no effort at all, so Bill relaxes into Gareth rather than shooing him away, feeling his heartbeat through his back.

“What have the Double-ohs done today?” Gareth asks, and Bill smiles.

“What haven’t they done?” he grumbles, but it’s mostly for show. As much as work drives him insane, sometimes — as it does Eve and Gareth, too; that’s just how it is at Six — it’s hard to be too disgruntled about it when he’s home with his two partners. 

At least before dinner.

Bill finishes fixing the pasta bolognese, while Gareth lays the table and Eve pour three glasses of water. They sit and eat whilst making pleasant conversation about the most mundane aspects of their jobs, as well as the podcast Gareth is listening to, the book Eve is reading, the new album Bill downloaded. When they finish, Gareth clears the table, Bill loads the dishwasher, and Eve goes to get the alcohol.

Then, when they’re all piled onto the couch half on top of one another, each with a glass of their preferred alcohol in hand — gin and tonic for Bill; Bulmers for Gareth, Guinness for Eve — Bill rolls his eyes and says, “Fucking Double-oh Two.”

“Oh absolutely,” Eve agrees immediately, because no one likes Double-oh Two. “Fuck Double-oh Two. What’s he done this time?”

“I have an entire fucking inbox of harassment complaints about him, and he’s only been back in Vauxhall for two days.” 

Beaufort is a creep and Bill has wanted to fire him for over a year now, but Beaufort is the sort to go the way of Trevelyan, and they have to tread carefully if they’re not going to just retire him with a bullet. M could order that, but Gareth has to answer to people, too, and those people think that Beaufort is useful, still. So. No bullet for Beaufort.

“Have you got a conveniently long mission in a conveniently out-of-the-way place you could stick him?” Gareth asks, and Bill huffs a laugh into Eve’s shoulder.

Eve however, makes a considering face. “Isn’t there a group in Alaska that we’re keeping an eye on? I know we said we weren’t going to do anything about them until it becomes a more pressing problem, but we could throw Beaufort at the problem and see what happens.”

Amusement lights in Gareth’s eyes, but her shakes his head. “We can’t afford to remove a Double-oh from play with that little cause.”

“But he’s a dick,” Eve says, pouting.

Bill rolls his eyes. “I guess I’ll just have to shove him in another conduct seminar,” he says. “I didn’t get any complaints about him for a whole two months after the last one.”

“And then he went to Chile,” Gareth says.

“And then he went to Chile,” Bill agrees.

“We should have chilli con carne for dinner tomorrow,” Eve says. She’s not drunk, because all three of them can hold their alcohol very well, and Bill is the lightweight out of them, but she’s a little loose in the way that suggest she’s at least using the alcohol as an excuse to relax. 

“Mince again?” Gareth shifts the hand without his drink so it falls across both Bill and Eve’s shoulders. “We had mince today.”

“It’s a different kind of mince,” Eve argues, and then abruptly changes the subject. “Double-oh One managed to find that art thief today.”

Bill and Gareth look at each other, and then at Eve. Cormorant West is currently on a mission involving gun running, and there has been nothing at all to suggest a connection to the art world, certainly not to anyone so well-known as to be referred to as ‘that art thief’ without any further explanation.

“You know, that one that ITV news was going on about, with Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’,” Eve says. When neither Bill nor Gareth look enlightened, she continues, “They broke into a warehouse with suspicious activity, expecting it to be the gun-runners, but it turned out to be half full of original stolen artwork and half full of forgeries.”

“That’s impressive,” Bill says, because he’s not quite sure what else to say.

Gareth taps the neck of his bottle against his chin. “What did they do?”

“Called in a tip to the police and said they were a concerned resident of the area. Then they locked the guy in his own warehouse and watched the police raid from a distance.”

“Well, at least we’ve got one competent Double-oh,” Bill says.

“All the Double-ohs are competent.” 

Eve makes a face at Gareth. “Fucking Double-oh Two,” she says.

Gareth hesitates, and then nods. “At least Bond can get himself out of trouble.”

Bill drains the last of his drink and wiggles his eyebrows. “If we’re talking about getting into trouble.”

“Or Bond for that matter.” Eve grins, nearly throwing the last of her own drink over herself when she ducks out of the way of Bill’s swatting hand.

“I was going to invite both of you to the bedroom, but if you’re going to bring Bond into it….”

“You’re both idiots,” Gareth says, and Bill would argue if he actually cared, but he doesn’t, because both of them are finishing their drinks and he’s standing up to pull them with him.

Fucking Double-oh Two is a boring topic that will only end up with them unpleasantly drunk and irritated.

Fucking each other, however, is a much more interesting and inviting prospect. They should really get to that as quickly as possible.

**Author's Note:**

> Keep notes:  
> \--I would like to propose the ship name TM2 (TMsquared) because Tanner/Moneypenny/Mallory and also I think it's funny that it's all superscript  
> \--challenge: how many times can Cassie use the word 'because'  
> \--and we're back to my obscure British TV show nonsense  
> \--look I just wanted something of these three being adorable and domestic and I'm really very tired but I like this  
> \--okay so I kind of wrote myself into a corner here with Beaufort bc I do not condone these actions and he should be fired but I feel like firing a 00 is Dangerous  
> \--oh whoops then is got more than a little suggestive at the end I don't know where that came from


End file.
